World War II Munitions, Torpedoes and Mines: How Ocean Creatures Prosper on Abandoned Weapons

In the slightly salty sea off the German coast lies a graveyard of Nazi bombs, torpedo heads and mines. Dumped from boats at the end of the World War II and forgotten about, thousands weapons have accumulated over the decades. They form a corroding layer on the low-depth, silty seafloor of the Bay of Lübeck in the western tip of the Baltic Sea.

Over the decades, the explosive stockpile was overlooked and neglected. A growing number of visitors flocked to the sandy beaches and calm waters for water sports, kite surfing and entertainment venues. Below the waves, the munitions decayed.

Researchers anticipated to see a desert, with nothing living there because it was all poisoned, says the lead researcher.

When the team went investigating to see what they were doing to the marine environment, the team thought they would find a barren area, with nothing living there because it was all contaminated, says a scientist.

What they discovered astonished them. Vedenin recounts his scientists reacting with shock when the underwater vehicle first transmitted footage. This was a great moment, he says.

Countless of sea creatures had established habitats on the weapons, forming a renewed habitat richer than the ocean bottom around it.

This underwater metropolis was proof to the tenacity of life. It is actually astonishing how much life we find in areas that are considered hazardous and harmful, he states.

Over 40 sea stars had gathered on to one accessible chunk of explosive material. They were residing on metal shells, fuse pockets and storage boxes just centimetres from its dangerous content. Marine fish, crustaceans, anemones and bivalves were all discovered on the discarded explosives. It's similar to a marine reef in terms of the abundance of animal life that was there, states Vedenin.

Surprising Population Density

An mean of more than forty thousand animals were residing on every square metre of the explosives, experts reported in their study on the finding. The surrounding area was much poorer in life, with only 8,000 creatures on every meter squared.

It is ironic that items that are intended to kill all life are drawing so much life, says Vedenin. You can see how nature adjusts after a devastating occurrence such as the World War II and how, in some way, marine life finds its way to the most hazardous locations.

Man-made Features as Marine Environments

Artificial features such as shipwrecks, wind turbines, drilling platforms and undersea pipes can create substitutes, replacing some of the lost marine environment. This study shows that weapons could be equally positive – the bloom of life on those in the Bay of Lübeck is likely to be found in different areas.

Between 1946 and the post-war period, 1.6m tons of arms were dumped off the German shoreline. Thousands of workers placed them in barges; some were placed in designated locations, others just thrown overboard en route. This is the initial instance researchers have recorded how ocean organisms has responded.

Global Instances of Ocean Adaptation

• In the United States, decommissioned energy installations have turned into coral reefs
• Sunken ships from the World War I have become environments for marine life along the Potomac River in Maryland
• Tank tracks that have become habitat to reef-building organisms off Asan in the Pacific island

These places become even more important for wildlife as the seas are increasingly stripped by fishing, bottom trawling and anchoring. Shipwrecks and munitions areas essentially serve as refuges – they are not national parks, but nearly any kind of anthropogenic disturbance is banned, states Vedenin. As a result a many of organisms that are typically rare or declining, such as the cod fish, are thriving.

Future Issues

Anywhere military conflict has occurred in the past 100 years, surrounding seas are typically littered with weapons, says Vedenin. Many millions of tons of dangerous substances rest in our oceans.

The locations of these explosives are poorly recorded, partly because of international boundaries, restricted defense data and the reality that documents are stored in historic archives. They pose an detonation and safety risk, as well as risk from the ongoing release of toxic chemicals.

As Germany and additional nations embark on removing these artifacts, experts hope to preserve the habitats that have established nearby. In the Lübeck Bay weapons are currently being extracted.

It would be wise to replace these steel remains remaining from munitions with some more secure, various harmless materials, like perhaps man-made habitats, states Vedenin.

He presently aspires that what occurs in the Bay of Lübeck establishes a model for replacing habitats after explosive extraction elsewhere – because also the most destructive explosives can become framework for new life.